FWPD Ride Along

When you think of a police officer what's the first thing that comes to mind? Parking tickets, traffic violations and extreme, high speed car chases, right? If you have watched a few too many episodes of COPS you probably think being a police officer is really intense and exciting all the time; however, that isn't the case.

During my seven-hour ride along with Fort Worth Police Officer Jon Romer, I quickly learned life, as an officer isn't always as exciting as I thought it was. I had high hopes of a drug bust or gang activity, but I was soon informed with a smile from Officer Romer, that it's a hit or miss while patrolling his beat. Some nights it is really intense and extremely busy and other nights, like last night, it was unbelievably slow.

While I was cruising the streets of Fort Worth I learned how to scan license plates, read and reply to calls and the e-mail system that officers use to communicate while patrolling together.

We were able to respond to a couple calls. These included a disturbance call and a noise complaint. The disturbance call was about 20 children playing basketball in the middle of the street and not moving for cars. (They certainly moved once they saw us pull up in a police car).

We also responded to a call regarding a lady who had a complaint about a dog barking. Once we arrived on the scene the dog had stopped barking, leaving little for us to do to help the woman who called complaining. She was aggravated with us and threatened to keep calling every hour the barking continued (we were at the scene for about 25 minutes and never heard a dog bark). Officer Romer apologized gave her the case number and we left.

Police officers are here to keep people safe and more importantly make people feel safe. At times calls seen basic and of little importance, but an officer showing up after someone has called in a complaint makes them feel safe. This builds respect among the community, which helps the officers do their jobs effectively.

Community Involvement

She started working in Career Services at TCU, but it wasn't for her. Mary Kathleen Baldwin, better known as MK, has always be involved in community service, so about a year ago when a position opened up in TCU's Community Involvement and Service-Learning center opened up, she knew it was for her.

As the assistant director for the center she manages community service projects for higher education. Overseeing projects such as, service spring break projects, volunteer fair, LEAPS and alcohol violations.

"Alcohol violations are the least fun part of my job," Baldwin said. "People come here with the misconception that we are the bad guys, but we just follow through on their community service requirements. It's hard to get them interested in community service. I love community service, so it's discouraging when students come in hating it."

Baldwin's favorite part of her job is being able to work with energetic students who are really energetic and have a passion for what they are doing.

"I can connect with people who really want to get involved in the community and it just makes me happy to be a part of it," Baldwin said.